Deuteronomy 27:3

_AND THOU SHALT WRITE UPON THEM ALL THE WORDS OF THIS LAW, WHEN THOU ART PASSED OVER, THAT THOU MAYEST GO IN UNTO THE LAND WHICH THE LORD THY GOD GIVETH THEE, A LAND THAT FLOWETH WITH MILK AND HONEY; AS THE LORD GOD OF THY FATHERS HATH PROMISED THEE._ Thou shalt write upon them all the words of this law - not certainly the whole five books of Moses, nor even the abridgment of it given in this book of Deuteronomy. It might be, as Kennicott thinks, the Decalogue; but a greater probability is, that it was the 'blessings and curses'-which comprised, in fact, an epitome of the law (Joshua 8:34). THAT THOU MAYEST GO IN UNTO THE LAND WHICH THE LORD THY GOD GIVETH THEE. This public and solemn ceremonial was evidently intended as a national expression, at the moment of Israel's entering into possession of the promised land, of their obligation to keep with faithfulness al

1-10 As soon as they were come into Canaan, they must set up a monument, on which they must write the words of this law. They must set up an altar. The word and prayer must go together. Though they might not, of their own heads, set up any altar besides that at the tabernacle; yet, by the appointment of God, they might, upon special occasion. This altar must be made of unhewn stones, such as they found upon the field. Christ, our Altar, is a stone cut out of the mountain without hands, refused by the builders, as having no form or comeliness, but accepted of God the Father, and made the Head of the corner. In the Old Testament the words of the law are written, with the curse annexed; which would overcome us with horror, if we had not, in the New Testament, an altar erected close by, which gives consolation. Blessed be God, the printed copies of the Scriptures among us, do away the neces...

Verse Deuteronomy 27:3. _ALL THE WORDS OF THIS LAW_] After all that has been said by ingenious critics concerning the _law_ ordered to be written on these stones, some supposing the whole Mosaic law to be intended, others, only the _decalogue_, I am fully of opinion that the (תורה _torah_) law or ordinance in question simply means the _blessings_ and _curses_ mentioned in this and in the following chapter; and indeed these contained a very good epitome of the whole law in all its promises and threatenings, in reference to the whole of its grand moral design. See at the end of this chapter. Deuteronomy 27:26....

ALL THE WORDS OF THIS LAW - i. e. all the laws revealed from God to the people by Moses, regarded by the Jews as 613 (compare Numbers 15:38 note). The exhibition of laws in this manner on stones, pillars, or tables, was familiar to the ancients. The laws were probably graven in the stone (“very plainly,” Deuteronomy 27:8 is by some rendered “scoop it out well”), as are for the most part the Egyptian hieroglyphics, the “plaister” being afterward added to protect the inscription from the weather....

PART III.—THIRD DISCOURSE OF MOSES. THE COVENANT RENEWED. CHAPTERS 27-30. EXPOSITION Deuteronomy 27:1. INSTRUCTIONS AS TO THE PUBLISHING OF THE LAW IN CANAAN. HAVING set forth the laws and rights of Israel with special reference to the settlement of the people in Canaan, Hoses proceeds to dwell more particularly on the sanctions by which obedience to the Divine institute was enforced. Before entering on these, however, he gives some instructions regarding the setting up and proclamation of the Law when the

AND THOU SHALL WRITE UPON THEM ALL THE WORDS OF THIS LAW,.... Not the whole book of Deuteronomy, as some think, at least not the historical part of it, only what concerns the laws of God; and it may be only a summary or abstract of them, and perhaps only the ten commandments. Josephus q is of opinion that the blessings and the curses after recited were what were written on them: WHEN THOU ART PASSED OVER; that is, the river Jordan: THAT THOU MAYEST GO IN UNTO THE LAND WHICH THE LORD THY GOD GIVETH THEE, A LAND FLOWING WITH MILK AND HONEY; this account of the land of Canaan is so frequently observed, to imprint upon their minds a sense of the great goodness of God in giving them such a fruitful country, and to point out to them the obligation they lay under to observe the laws of God ordered to be written on plastered stones, as soon as they came into it: AS THE LORD GOD OF THY FATHERS...

23. THE MEMORIAL OF THE LAW AT MOUNT EBAL; GERIZIM AND EBAL CHAPTER 27 _ 1. The memorial to be set up in the land (Deuteronomy 27:1)_ 2. Gerizim and Ebal (Deuteronomy 27:9) Little comment is needed on this chapter. The memorial stones were to be set up on Mount Ebal. Upon that mountain the curses of the law were to be uttered. The blessings were to be pronounced upon Mount Gerizim. However, on Gerizim were no stones with the law written upon it. How strikingly this illustrates the true ministration of the law! It cannot give blessing, but it must curse man. “For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them” ...

WRITE. See note on Exodus 17:14. Compare Joshua 8:30. THIS LAW: i.e. which follows, viz. the blessings and curses. AS. according as....

Erection of Stones for the Inscription of the Law, and of an Altar Moses and the elders charged the people to keep the commandment (1); when they cross Jordan they shall set up stones and, whitening them, shall thereon write the Law (Torah) (2 f.); they shall do this on Mt -Ebal (4), and build an altar (of the form enjoined in E, Exodus 20:24 f.) for burnt and peace offerings, eating and rejoicing before God (5 7), and writing on the stones very plainly (8). The passage is a compilation from different sources. _First_, in Deuteronomy 27:2_; Deuteronomy 27:8_, Deuteronomy 27:2 f. and...

_VER._ 3. _ALL THE WORDS OF THIS LAW_— But what law? it may be asked. They must have been immense stones to have contained the whole book of Deuteronomy, much more the whole Pentateuch: either therefore the _ten commandments,_ or the _blessings_ and _curses,_ must be meant. 1. Mr. Locke says, _all the words,_ &c. means _the decalogue;_ and Dr. Kennicott also is for the _ten commandments,_ that divine system of the _moral law,_ which, he says, may be well called _the law,_ by way of eminence. In this sense the word is used Acts 7:53. At our entrance upon this consideration, the propriety of engraving the _ten commandments_ on this occasion strikes us at once; for, Had not the Israelites been brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand, to possess the land of Canaan, there to live as the _servants_ and subjects of the one true God? Wa